Official Website up, featuring early screenshots ...

crandall9000 · Post by **crandall9000** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 1:07 pm

Hello All,

The username at the left might be confused for Rob Crandall so a quick qualification is in order: I'm Peter, Rob's brother. I've been looking forward to the next edition of Rob's work for some time and, being an avid gamer, am really looking forward to something with a modern theme that has an emphasis on payability.

I'm extremely impressed by the level of discussion in the threads. I can't hope to offer anything meaningful in the way of historical fact but would like to contribute feedback on playability issues.

To establish my manic game-playing credentials, it's worth noting that somewhere in the threads Rob mentioned he started out on an old Apple II+. I knew it well because I eventually bought that box and burned it out playing War in Russia. Then I borrowed Rob's Apple IIc and burned its monitor out (sorry Rob!), again, playing War in Russia. Many other favourite games have come and gone (usually because of O/S upgrades) but the craving for a good game lives on. So far everything I've read looks very promising. The screen shots look great! My two bits of early feedback are:

1. A selected unit is displayed in yellow. Is it possible to keep the original unit colour and indicate its selected status with some other visual cue (e.g. white box, embossed look, etc.)? Personally, I find the dramatic shift in colour a little confusing as it dissassociates the unit from the force it belongs to.

2. The two icons to the right of the nuke symbol (e.g. on the Orders Screen) are for hide terrain detail and stop time?

Cheers,

Peter

Paul Vebber · Post by **Paul Vebber** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 6:00 pm

"Hide jump map" (the little map in the upper right hand corner) and "run the clock" - basically "I'm done giving orders lets rock and roll". Once both players have their orders in, the clock "ticks off" in 5 min increments for a 30 min turn.

I can only add my admiration for Robert's work - this game has a feel to it that , even at the pre beta stage, I think will be a real winner!

IronManBeta · Post by **IronManBeta** » Mon Sep 30, 2002 10:49 pm

Welcome Peter!

Now only were you a wiz at destroying hardware but you had an uncanny talent for breaking the software too! If there was a loophole anywhere in the game logic you could be counted on to find it and exploit it. The fond memories this brings back...

I used the lime yellow colour for the currently selected unit just so that it would be completely and totally unambiguous. I could indeed tone it down or maybe come up with another scheme such as you suggest and then let the player pick which one to use at game startup.

1. I could use a icon background colour other than lime yellow.
2. I could paint the foreground in a special colour rather than the background.
3. I could use a strongly tinted location cursor behind the unit to give it a halo effect
4. ? (what else can I try?)

I'll set it up this week and see how it looks. Thanks for the tip.

Cheers, Rob.

jrcar · Post by **jrcar** » Mon Oct 21, 2002 9:14 am

Blackhorse and Byron are correct, the advantages of defence are many

However this is not the only outcome from the scenario posted...

Say for example those recon units that were let through the main position had noticed the defenders... (that is their job after all!) they may have also identified the defenders alternate and subsequent positions as well.

So just as the column comes beetling down the road arty fire starts landing on the armours positions, forcing them to relocate or suffer damage...

As they relocate the company of Hinds assigned to the Soviet advance guard pop over the hill catching those tanks in the middle of the relocation.

Now you have the advance guard closeing and mopping up the depth positions, including the cooks and bottle washers (whom the recon also picked up).

The Soviets have their first penetration of the line, and the Armies Operational Manouvre Group is directed to advance down that axis towards the Rhine....

Modern warfare is viscious, deadly and whole units can be wiped out in a few minutes, but please don't assume the enemy are idiots.

C4ISREW (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveilence and electronic warfare) significantly shapes the ensuing battle, if you know where the enemy is you can hit him, and as noted by Byron if you can hit them you can kill them, or manouvre around them

Think RED

Ex Intelligence Officer

who loves to play RED.

Good Luck with the game

crandall9000 · Post by **crandall9000** » Sun Nov 10, 2002 11:54 am

"run the clock" - basically "I'm done giving orders lets rock and roll". Once both players have their orders in, the clock "ticks off" in 5 min increments for a 30 min turn.

Paul,

I noticed there is time and date information at the bottom of the screen. Was wondering if the clock icon could be replaced by a digital clock that would display the time as the 5 min increments elapse. Might be dimmed with a snoozing 'zzz' effect during the orders stage or an overlaying X (as it does currently).

Reason I am suggesting this is

a) The digital clock might be more readily identifiable as an icon suggesting control of time within the game (particularly in the 'stopped' mode, I found the current icon difficult at first glance to identify).

b) It would centralise the mechanism for controlling time with feedback as to what the time actually is. Would reduce the importance of looking around the screen for additional information.

I appreciate that designing icons is torturous and problematic at the best of times. Not sure my suggestion would look or work any better but thought I toss it out there.